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EverQuest II - Dear Devs Part Three
MMORPG.com's Adele Caelia recently submitted some questions from EverQuest II players to the game's developers. Today, we present the final three answers provided by SOE.
Hello devs and thanks for taking the time to answer some of the millions of letters I'm sure you're getting. My questions is a simple one:
Is there a way to make it so that the Necromancer class can choose between the male and female versions of the sorcerer pet spider? I'd really like to have that option and not be stuck with the gender based one. Thank you very much for your time.
Arachia Ter'Syon
79 Necromancer
Crushbone
Bane
Arachia,
I don’t think we’ve ever given that any consideration before. I’ll have to bring it up as a concept to figure out how difficult it would be to do. It would certainly require some extensive work, just as an exercise. We’d have to add an additional field to the database, and then create the system by which you would choose the gender of the pet, which would also drive an additional UI screen. We’d need to wrap it all up and ensure that there aren’t any conflicts in code about that, either. It’s probably doable, but we’d have to evaluate how long it would take and where it would fit in the big list of priorities. Interesting thought!
Dear Developers of EverQuest II,
I write to you in regards of a growing concern I have with the older content of EverQuest II. It has come to my attention that with the current expansions that have been added to the game (while I feel they have made significant improvements) they have taken away from the original content of the game. I had asked this question before, but the response I was given was a little bit hazy. So I ask, "Will we see any live updates that bring the old world content up to par with the new world content in the near future?" Examples of this can be found as drops in the Lair of the Necromancer off of Nektulous Forest. The items that drop there are almost worse than level 1 Timorous Deep items. There are a lot of quests in the old world zones now that people feel are only worth the AA's. I know you are all busy enough as it is so I was just curious as to what the answer on this was.
Thanks
I think I covered this in a previous answer, but probably not in enough detail. Yes, we’re constantly looking at data we collect to compare usage, reward status, and a bunch of other statistics regarding to all content, both “new” and “old” in the game. And we’ve discussed a few times where we can fit time to update the “old” content more in line with the “new”, but sometimes it is just a matter of how many resources you have, what the majority of the population is playing at in terms of levels and areas, which drives our decisions on what each item gets in terms of priority. I assure you that this is a topic that comes up relatively often, and yet somehow we haven’t gotten to it yet. We still want to do it, but it has to come after some of the other things that are on our plates. I know we’d all love there to be infinite time and infinite resources, but we do occasionally have to put aside work, and go home to recharge the batteries. And I’m loathe to assign a time frame to any of this kind of “rework”, as we often have new priorities take prominence that we may not have anticipated. You’d be surprised at how often we think we’re heading down a path to complete something, and then there’s an issue in the game that takes ultimate priority and derails us. It’s a constant challenge for us to keep focused on the things that need attention urgently, without forgetting the less urgent items that remain on our huge list of stuff we want to do.
Dear Devs,
[Why have] heroic opportunities been forgotten? I feel that this is an under-utilized system by all! I remember when they used to have a 30 second fill time, and people used to use them. Now with precision casting orders people don’t see the use in them. I think it’s kind of the group-binding additive that's missing from the game. There’s no real reason to group together except to receive buffs that [remain] until you die. There needs to be a bit more teamwork involved, not just hack-slash-heal.
Is there any chance of [adding] some new ones? There are a few combinations of classes that have not been addressed.
Thanks,
Frozen
Frozen,
I think you’ll find that we haven’t forgotten Heroic Opportunities. There are a lot of ideas, both internally and externally, on how we can improve and expand the system, and we’re giving a lot of consideration as to what the best path will be. I’m sure you’ll see the fruits of our efforts in an upcoming release!
And I wanted to take this opportunity to thank each and every one of you for participating, both in this particular letter, but also in the community around EverQuest II. We do care about your concerns, and are trying to listen in all sorts of ways, and implement the ideas that we feel best meet your needs for engaging and exciting gameplay. The enjoyment we receive out of making all the content you have seen, and will see in the future, is due to the enjoyment you all get out of playing, talking, and even living EverQuest II. Thanks for the continued support!
I think you should look over your questions before submitting them... I believe that the "when are you going to update old world content" question has been asked already. If I were a dev, I know Id get sick of being asked the same thing... probly why they keep advoiding answering things and giving half-answers.
Well, it's the old "squeaky wheel" scenario. Not uncommon for reporters. So, IMHO they should answer the question directly. Don't you think?
Well, it's the old "squeaky wheel" scenario. Not uncommon for reporters. So, IMHO they should answer the question directly. Don't you think?
True, true... still, Id get annoyed at the same question all the time. But then of course if I was a dev, I wouldnt be avoiding the question unless I had good reason. >.>
mmorpg.com you really need to look over these questions before submitting all of them
One question in this update was the exact same question in the first update. Come on, you of all people know Devs will pick a question already answered so they wont have to try as hard.
This series of questions have been a major disappointment.
Also to answer the question why content hasnt been updated in the old world zones is easy and doesn't require much dev answering this. They do not update it because the expansions offer better loot. If you want that better loot then you better buy that expansion! They are not going to drop better loot in old school zones because if they do, their sales in expansions will dip. Thats the real answer.
Yeap, you pretty much summed it up. It is after all a dollars and cents thing. Because they don't make these games for you and I...but only to line their pockets. And I don't begrudge them that. "We're" just stupid enough to buy into it.
That is actualy the one thing i feel is holding SOE back, due to that they only focus on expensions/chapters, it seems it does not cross their minds that maybe updating the old will bring in NEW players. We all know these day's many people don't have the patients or will to go for the journey, so why would anyone start EQ2 if the old isn't update's and it takes a pretty long time before they will be able to experiance the new? I am not talking personaly cause for me IT IS about the journey, but experiance have shown me the majority isn't this way...unfortunaly...for me :P, so it's sort of amazes me that a gamecompany like SOE has in my opinion with this a very narrow minded view. ASfcourse i might be completly wrong but thats just how i see it with their repsonce towards "the Old" Oh and it's not only about loot what i am talking about but much more then just that. I see multible reasons why the OLD SHOULD ni fact kept updated, adding more NEW quest's to the OLD, making NEW dungeons for the OLD, I must say i don't play EQ2 and have very little knowhow of the game itself and how update and expensions work, but i am only responding to what was said in this line up of questions to that dev. So feel free to correct me if i am wrong with things...no worry's
To me it's very inlogical, gamedevelopers should not only focus on the new, i've seen this with SWG they kept adding and adding, small fixes in between and more adding...well not only SWG is guilty of this...., cause they oh so believe that is what their current players want, and afcourse current players want something new, but to let your game have growth it's not only about adding things it''s about maintaining what IS already there and to me SOE and many other company's have dropped the ball on that.
Revamping zones would keep their old subscribers who hit max level, don't raid and get bored of leveling alts as well. I'm not one of those people, as my main just hit 40, but I've had an account (on and off)since DoF, leveled a lot of characters in the "old world" into the 30's; and I must say... the gear, quests and overall attention paid to the original low level areas.... sucks.
I'm getting more enjoyment now that gear/quests/leveling areas is somewhat better balance in the 40's than in the 20's and 30's.
In the end its all about money.
Why improve the old world when you can let out more expansions are get more money out of it?
Why fix broken AAs and introduce new weapon / armor models, if it takes too much time to develop and actually be CREATIVE for a change?
Its the same old concept of "if the money keeps getting in, why change the way it is?"
The only difference is that, theres a LOT of competition on the market nowadays, new titles just came out, others coming in and player base is getting more and more spread out.
Exodus from EQ2 is becoming more frequent everyday and i really feel they wont put much more effort in EQ2 in terms of innovations, fixes and creativity. Sony is a large company, a huge monster that wants to pin point areas where the real money is coming in.
I bet the developer team is reduced by half nowadays and they wont change that till the day they close the game down or just wake up and smell the coffee - but the last option is URGENT if EQ2 wants to keep on par with other titles and attract new "meat".
I just remember how great the game was a few years ago and slowly i saw it becoming more and more abandoned in terms of creation and actually listening to players - my class, for instance, the Berserker has only 1 valid option in terms of AAs - i really doubt i will ever see any point in speccing other way, cause fixing the old world and classes is not a priority ATM - it just doesnt bring the money in their minds and that's a fatal mistake to make (cause fixing class-trees and improving the old world would actually bring many players back, including me).
I actually thought 2/3 questions were good.That is a change as i don't often like too much lol.As to the second question,i thought since it hasn't been taken care of ,it is a question that needs to get drilled into them.There response seemed to be putting re work of old zones on the backburner,at least that was the impression i got.
They said they have to look at the playerbase and decide on wich gets priority,that again says there effort in bringing old zones up to date will not be coming.A couple things i might add on that.First up original content is still part of the game and should have never been surpassed,they should have kept the game in balance.There is without any doubt a reason for there decisions and that is marketing.No question they tried to make the new zones more rewarding so players would buy the expansion and play it.If they decided the old zones were of no use anymore ,then they should have ended the game and made an EQ3 or whatever.I might also add that i on a few occasions did some /sea through all the levels and saw numbers that don't agree with the devs.From there response,they seem to be saying the majority of the player base is high level.Well i got pretty much even numbers across the board.There was no staggering numbers at any 10 levels.The game actually has a low player base and needs a server merger ASAP.I got a total of around 740 +/- players[should be 2000-3000 ] with pretty much 90-100 over each 10 spread.There was like 120 closer to the 70 but that really isn't that much over the 90 i was getting across all the 10 spreads.The free 2 month play prolly helped the lower levels a bit i am sure,but deff shows the game needs a merger.
As far as the necromancer thing,that seems to be self biased and not really something that would benefit the whole game.That would be something left to the end for sure,actually i'm sure it won't get changed...sorry.
Ok now on the issue of HO's.I saw this exact same situation unfold in FFXI over the years.Players became very superficial and eliminated any fun factor[MB..magic bursts],there reasoning was always lame>>"we wanna do whatever is fastest dmg so we can level faster".I have been in some very well organized groups albeit very few,where we talk over what we're gonna do to make the fights organized.Players for the most part just button mash there best spells/abilities and thats it,when the icon comes up again they button mash there combo.However i lay part of the blame to the VERY sloppy battle system.
They have poor hit boxes if any and you can walk right thru each other or literally stand on top of each other.When the puller pulls ,the group of mobs run directly to the mages,or i should say through the tank as there seems to be no hit box and the meshes are semi-solid.I often use FFXI battle system as the best because you have a certain distance the hit box keeps you away and everything is NEAT and tidy no messy battles.You also can not stand on top of each other or go through each other,well not entirely as in EQ2 anyhow.IMO mobs also move way too fast in EQ2,they seem to just fly across the floor and jetison into the group.So ya although HO's have been forgotten,IMO the whole battle system is to blame for players taking the easy route.If the battle system was a little slower more methodical with more realistic action and reaction sequences then ya players would prolly take a larger role in doing HO's .The battles IMO border on F2P and end too fast,like killing a room full of say 10 or so in under a minute is unrealistic IMO anyhow.
I was glad to see anyhow that some of the players in this game put forth questions that show they care about there game and not the usual selfish questions,or fanbois stuff "our game is great it doesn't need fixing" cliche i see a lot of .Two of these questions were great at addressing something that would be for the better of the whole game and community..good job on those questions.
Ask them about friggin' server merges. Every time. For some servers the population is disasterously low.
Before I cancelled a few weeks ago, I couldn't even get killed on Venekor it was that bad.
mmorpg.com has just become a huge sellout like gamespot blah